Marcellus Williams has been executed by the State of Missouri

[2ManyBlueCups]

I'm not very familiar with the Marcellus Williams evidence. What was the strongest evidence supporting his guilt?

Victim’s belongings found in his car. Witness said Williams sold the victim’s laptop to him. Girlfriend said Williams confessed to her. There is plenty of evidence tying him to the crime. I suppose it is possible that someone else murdered the victim shortly after he robbed her, but that is extremely unlikely. Some people like to say, “but someone else’s DNA was found on the murder weapon.” True, that DNA belonged to the investigators who handled the knife.

 

[Icky Mettle]

Victim’s belongings found in his car. Witness said Williams sold the victim’s laptop to him. Girlfriend said Williams confessed to her. There is plenty of evidence tying him to the crime. I suppose it is possible that someone else murdered the victim shortly after he robbed her, but that is extremely unlikely. Some people like to say, “but someone else’s DNA was found on the murder weapon.” True, that DNA belonged to the investigators who handled the knife.

Most items will have DNA from multiple sources on it. What’s interesting here is that, according to the prosecutor who sought to vacate his conviction, the person who committed the crime was pretty sloppy and left evidence behind, but there were no traces of Williams’s DNA.

As for Williams possessing her belongings (I was only aware of the laptop he sold), that doesn’t mean that he is the one who stole them from her. Many of my clients get busted with stolen goods that they did not steal. They got it either from the person who did steal those items or somewhere else down the chain.

And if the investigators’ DNA was in the knife l, that means they mishandled it, which can be a red flag. Investigators are supposed to take precautions so that they son’s “contaminate” physical evidence.

 

[2ManyBlueCups]

Most items will have DNA from multiple sources on it. What’s interesting here is that, according to the prosecutor who sought to vacate his conviction, the person who committed the crime was pretty sloppy and left evidence behind, but there were no traces of Williams’s DNA.

As for Williams possessing her belongings (I was only aware of the laptop he sold), that doesn’t mean that he is the one who stole them from her. Many of my clients get busted with stolen goods that they did not steal. They got it either from the person who did steal those items or somewhere else down the chain.

Some of the items of hers that were found in his car were a ruler and a newspaper. Those would be odd things to just buy off of someone. Not to mention the fact that his girlfriend testified that he had blood on him when she saw him shortly after the murder and she was able to provide investigators with details of the crime that had not been made public. Every single piece of evidence points to Williams.

As far as the DNA is concerned, the killer did not leave DNA behind. It was speculated that the killer wore gloves. The only DNA found belonged to investigators who handled the knife. There wasn’t some random unknown person’s DNA on the knife.

 

[Icky Mettle]

Some of the items of hers that were found in his car were a ruler and a newspaper. Those would be odd things to just buy off of someone. Not to mention the fact that his girlfriend testified that he had blood on him when she saw him shortly after the murder and she was able to provide investigators with details of the crime that had not been made public. Every single piece of evidence points to Williams.

As far as the DNA is concerned, the killer did not leave DNA behind. It was speculated that the killer wore gloves. The only DNA found belonged to investigators who handled the knife. There wasn’t some random unknown person’s DNA on the knife.

Not only are those odd things to buy, those are odd things to steal. But obviously someone did, assuming those belonged to her. (That said, how did they know that a ruler belonged to her? Not sure if I would even notice if someone stole one of my rulers or be able to recognize the ruler.)

The issue with investigators’ DNA is that it’s a sign that they mishandled evidence and raises further questions about the investigation. It’s also interesting that, if what the prosecutor says is true about the murderer being sloppy, that if it was Willams his DNA was not left behind. DNA can also come from places other than hands.

 

[2ManyBlueCups]

Not only are those odd things to buy, those are odd things to steal. But obviously someone did, assuming those belonged to her. (That said, how did they know that a ruler belonged to her? Not sure if I would even notice if someone stole one of my rulers or be able to recognize the ruler.)

The issue with investigators’ DNA is that it’s a sign that they mishandled evidence and raises further questions about the investigation. It’s also interesting that, if what the prosecutor says is true about the murderer being sloppy, that if it was Willams his DNA was not left behind. DNA can also come from places other than hands.

Surely you know that killers often collect seemingly insignificant items from their victims as “trophies”. As far as the ruler and newspaper are concerned, I’m guessing either her DNA was found on the items or they were positively identified by friends and/or family. She was a journalist and likely kept copies of stories of hers that had been published.

To sum it up,

-Williams had items belonging to the victim that were found in his car
-Williams girlfriend stated that she saw Williams shortly after the murder with blood on his shirt and that he confessed to her. She was able to provide details about the murder to investigators that had not been released to the public
-Williams sold a laptop to another man that belonged to the victim. The laptop was recovered
-The knife had no DNA on it other than DNA belonging to the investigators who handled it
-Williams had a history of committing robberies

I don’t think he should have been executed, but dude did it.

“When Gayle was killed, items stolen from her home were later sold by Williams or found in his possession. A former girlfriend and an inmate who shared a cell with Williams also testified at his trial that he confessed to killing Gayle.



The ex-girlfriend told police that when Williams picked her up on the day of the Gayle’s death, she noticed he was wearing a jacket even though it was hot outside, and that there was blood on his shirt, scratches on his neck and a laptop in his car. She told police that when she looked in the car’s trunk the next day, she found a purse that contained Gayle’s identification.

When police searched Williams’ car more than a year after Gayle’s death, they found a St. Louis Post-Dispatch ruler and calculator that had belonged to Gayle. Police also recovered a laptop stolen from Gayle’s home from a man who had bought it from Williams.”

A Missouri man has been executed for a 1998 murder. Was he guilty or innocent?

Questions are still swirling around the execution of a Missouri man convicted of fatally stabbing a woman in 1998.

apnews.com

 

[Icky Mettle]

Surely you know that killers often collect seemingly insignificant items from their victims as “trophies”. As far as the ruler and newspaper are concerned, I’m guessing either her DNA was found on the items or they were positively identified by friends and/or family. She was a journalist and likely kept copies of stories of hers that had been published.

To sum it up,

-Williams had items belonging to the victim that were found in his car
-Williams girlfriend stated that she saw Williams shortly after the murder with blood on his shirt and that he confessed to her. She was able to provide details about the murder to investigators that had not been released to the public
-Williams sold a laptop to another man that belonged to the victim. The laptop was recovered
-The knife had no DNA on it other than DNA belonging to the investigators who handled it
-Williams had a history of committing robberies

I don’t think he should have been executed, but dude did it.

“When Gayle was killed, items stolen from her home were later sold by Williams or found in his possession. A former girlfriend and an inmate who shared a cell with Williams also testified at his trial that he confessed to killing Gayle.



The ex-girlfriend told police that when Williams picked her up on the day of the Gayle’s death, she noticed he was wearing a jacket even though it was hot outside, and that there was blood on his shirt, scratches on his neck and a laptop in his car. She told police that when she looked in the car’s trunk the next day, she found a purse that contained Gayle’s identification.

When police searched Williams’ car more than a year after Gayle’s death, they found a St. Louis Post-Dispatch ruler and calculator that had belonged to Gayle. Police also recovered a laptop stolen from Gayle’s home from a man who had bought it from Williams.”

A Missouri man has been executed for a 1998 murder. Was he guilty or innocent?

Questions are still swirling around the execution of a Missouri man convicted of fatally stabbing a woman in 1998.

apnews.com

Actually I didn’t know that killers seemingly collect seemingly insignificant items from their victims despite the fact that over the last 20 years I have come to know and represented quite a few killers. Of the dozens of killers I have come to know, none one of them have collected insignificant items. Many of them have even left behind significant items, including very valuable items, items of their own, and even the very items they were after (when they happened to be going after certain items, because they hoped not to get caught).

That’s not to say it never happens. And I’m sure it does with serial killers and killers who suffer from certain mental illnesses, but it’s not like it’s a common thing. And obviously that may have happened here, but it doesn’t mean it was Williams who did it. He could have ended up with the items. If they were found much later, that supports that argument even more.

Not sure how reliable the ex-girlfriend was. Maybe she was. But I’ve seen plenty of informants lie before, even family members, to get down benefit (whether reward money or lenience or even just revenge for some perceived wrongdoing).

 

[nycfan]

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